


i'd know what to do if it were us.

by sanctify (orphan_account)



Series: ☆ strong in the real way - marinette week 2020 ☆ [7]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Dissociation, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Identity Reveal, Kisses, Lovesquare, Marinette Week, Marinette Week 2020, Post-Hawk Moth Defeat, Post-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:35:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23415391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/sanctify
Summary: if i could be, i'd rather be me with you.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: ☆ strong in the real way - marinette week 2020 ☆ [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1677403
Comments: 10
Kudos: 110





	i'd know what to do if it were us.

**Author's Note:**

> IT IS 3:20 AM AND APRIL 1 BUT IT'S MARCH 31 SOMEWHERE ELSE AROUND THE WORLD LET ME HAVE THIS IM SLEEPY AS HELL AND DELIRIOUS LIKE MARINETTE BYE I'M DONE HAHAHAHHAA 
> 
> day 7: adrien

“Where are you taking me, silly cat?” She asked, giggling as he led her around, a blindfold covering her eyes.

“It’s a surprise, M’Lady! Just trust me. It’s gonna be good, uh, hopefully.”

“Chaton, if this is another one of your more feline tendencies…”

“It’s not! I promise,” Chat Noir said in front of her, chuckling.

He stops after a few more minutes of walking. “Okay, you can take it off now~!” He trills, excitedly running forward.

Ladybug takes the blindfold off and gasps.

It was a picnic under the stars and the smiling crescent moon.

“Minou…”

“This isn’t a romantic thing or anything, cross my heart,” Chat says, but picks a rose up from the picnic basket anyway. “It’s a celebratory picnic for the both of us!” He offers the rose to Ladybug, “Congratulations to the both of us for finishing the bac, M’Lady!”

Ladybug grins, taking the rose, “Thanks, Chaton. Congratulations to the both of us indeed.”

“So, made your decision for where you’re going next?” Chat Noir asks, setting the picnic blanket and sitting down, patting the space beside him.

“Actually, I think I’m going to take a gap year? I’m dedicating the entire year to making my portfolio.”

“Ooh la la. That sounds interesting!”

“It’s something alright. Do you think it’s probably cheating since I’m the holder of the Ladybug?” She asked, laughing.

Chat Noir snorts, “Hey, I’ll take it if that were the case. Can you imagine what it’d be like if I could just… easily reduce all living matter to its most basic state and then some just to study how exactly things work? I’d be making breakthroughs in Science, Ladybug! But sadly, that’s not the case. So I gotta use my brain like the rest of my future peers will. And I think the same thing applies to you.”

Ladybug stares in awe at her partner, “When did you get so smart?”

Chat Noir scoffs, “Rude! I’m always smart.”

Ladybug giggles behind a hand, “Whatever you say, Chaton,” she teases, reaching forward and flicking his bell.

Chat Noir reaches for her hand before she can pull away, leaving a kiss upon her knuckles and winking.

Ladybug wrinkles her nose and pushes him away with a finger on his forehead. “Easy there, pretty kitty.”

“Sorry, sorry, my dear Lady.”

* * *

“Hey, ma princesse, how’s—holy shit!” Chat Noir jumped away from the scissors tossed at him. He looked up, offended, at his sweet former classmate.

“Oh! Jesus Christ, Chat Noir! I almost killed you!”

“I’ll say! What are you doing tossing scissors around, Mari?”

He looks closer and Marinette looks stressed and absolutely exhausted. “Oh. Is this a bad time?”

Marinette groans and runs her hands down her face, “You’re here now. What is it?”

“No seriously. It can wait. You just keep working on your… whatever it is you’re working on. A dress?”

“Yeah,” Marinette sighed, undoing her messy-and-not-in-the-styled-messy-way hairbun. “Our current project requires us to make formal wear and I can’t seem to make it work!” She whined, lying down on the floor. “I’m a failure.”

“Hey,” Chat Noir frowned. “You’re not a failure, Mari,” he said, sitting down beside her prone form, placing a hand on the nearer shoulder. “You’re probably just burned out. You need to take a break. Sleep on it. Do anything that doesn’t have to do with design. Heck, when was the last time you even slept? Because no offense, you look like an absolute mess.”

Marinette laughed wryly, “Thanks. It takes a lot of time and effort to look this flawless,” she said, placing a hand on her chest.

Chat Noir rolled his eyes fondly, “Okay, now I know you’re delirious as hell as well. Time for little princesses to get some shut-eye.”

“Chat Noir,” Marinette whined. “I can’t go to sleep right now. This is due in two weeks! I need to make a great headstart or else I’m not going to be able to keep up with my schedule!”

“You overthink so much, ma princesse. Trust me, two weeks is a very long time. Now please, I am carrying you to bed. Don’t fight me on this.” He says, lifting Marinette up bridal style.

“You can’t do this to me, you stupid cat! Put me down!” Marinette whined, squirming in her partner’s arms. “Is this how you treat Ladybug when she’s busy as all hell?! Put me doooown!”

“One, yes. I would definitely do this with M’Lady if she were as deliriously sleepy as you are. Two, no. Look at you, you’re acting like a child. You’re way past the point of tired, Mari. You need to sleep and I’m not taking no for an answer this time.”

Marinette was actually crying in his arms right now. He’d feel bad about it if he wasn’t so sure that this was for her own good. God. It was a good thing Le Papillon wasn’t as active as he used to be or else this would have definitely been a difficult Akuma to deal with… assuming his suspicions were right that is… 

He laid his princess on the bed, tucking her in. Her sniffles soon turning into deep snores.

“See? You were tired,” He huffed, shaking his head. “Oh, Mari.” He brushed her hair away from her forehead, leaning forward and pressing a soft kiss. He laughed softly when her brow furrowed.

He froze at the knock that sounded on Marinette’s door. He was just about to stand up and hide when the trapdoor opened and up stepped Tom Dupain. “Chat Noir?” Marinette’s father whispered into the room.

“Yes?” He asked, carefully and quietly jumping down from Marinette’s loft bed.

“Oh thank goodness you’re here,” Tom sighed, “Marinette’s holed herself up in here and she wouldn’t even come down anymore from how busy she was. And we couldn’t tell her off for not sleeping because it’s such a busy time right now.” Tom frowned, looking up at his daughter’s bed where she lay sleeping at last.

“Thank you for making her go to sleep when we couldn’t.”

“It’s no trouble, M. Dupain. Mari’s a dear friend of mine and it’s only right that I take care of her too. She does so much for me…” Chat Noir looks up at her sleeping figure, smiling fondly.

“Anyway, I should probably head back now. I only came over to chat with her, and I don’t want to intrude or anything…”

“Nonsense,” Tom says, shaking his head and smiling at the cat hero. “You’re not intruding on anything. In fact, why don’t you come down for some hot cocoa and croissants? We were planning on bringing some up to Marinette before we heard her yelling at you.”

Chat Noir winced at that, “It’s very late. I’m so sorry you had to deal with my carelessness as well.”

“It really is no big deal, son,” Tom smiles, “Now, come on. You’ve had Sabine’s hot cocoa before, right? We can give you Mari’s.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

“Please, Chat. Call me Tom.”

“A-alright, Tom.”

* * *

“Before I turn myself over to the police, I need to ask you a favor,” Papillon—no—Gabriel Agreste said, still with the same serious face even after facing defeat.

“And why should we listen?” Rena Rouge growls, steadying Carapace as he leans against her for support.

“Because it involves my son.”

Chat Noir hides a flinch at that.

“What about Adrien?” Carapace frowns. “What do you plan on doing to him?”

“If you would let me finish,” Gabriel spat. “I wish to have my identity be hidden from the rest of Paris.” He glared at Rena Rouge who looked ready to rebut, before turning his eyes at Ladybug. “Surely the great heroine of Paris understands why I want anonymity. My son deals with far too much attention and he hates it. If the whole of Paris finds out who I am, Adrien may never have a peaceful waking moment ever again.”

The two temporary heroes still at that. Chat Noir actually looks surprised that his father realized how much he hated the attention. Ladybug was as unreadable as always, and at the back of his mind, Chat Noir didn’t like that.

“Well, Ladybug? The choice is all up to you.” Rena Rouge said, after sharing a silent conversation with Carapace.

“It really isn’t,” Ladybug says, voice soft. “It’s Adrien’s choice.”

“But Adrien isn’t here, Ladybro,” Carapace says. “We’ve tried contacting him for days and he hasn’t replied.”

“He’s here,” Ladybug says with confidence. Then she looks at him, at Chat Noir.

_ Oh. _

“D-detransformation…”

Three sets of eyes look on in shock as Chat Noir turns back into Adrien Agreste.

“Adrien…” Gabriel says his name, and it actually sounds guilty for once.

Adrien doesn’t remember what he says after he reveals himself to the others, doesn’t remember what choice he made, he’ll see it tomorrow in the papers, in the news, in the Ladyblog. He doesn’t remember how he ended up in his and Ladybug’s safe house.

Plagg doesn’t make a sound, doesn’t complain about being hungry. He’s all curled up on Adrien’s shoulder, head resting at the crook of his neck, and purring.

“Chaton, are you with me?” a familiar voice asks, and he suddenly feels a warm hand on his cheek. It’s still covered in magical spandex. Ladybug.

“My Lady…” he whispers, finally meeting her worried blue eyes.

“I’m here, Chaton.” She says, cupping his cheeks. “I’m here.”

She gently presses kisses over his eyelids. “You don’t have to pretend to be strong right now, mon minou,” she says, thumb rubbing circles against his cheek. “I’ll protect you this time just like you always do for me.”

Adrien cries into her arms that night, and Ladybug is the solid foundation that continues to stand tall even when faced by the storm his emotions bring.

* * *

“Are we there yet?” Adrien laughs, blindfold over his eyes, hands reaching forward trying to find something to hold onto, only to be met with empty air.

“Not yet,” Marinette giggles. “Follow the sound of my voice, mon minou!”

“I am, I am!” He answers back, grinning at her enthusiasm. Oh well, if she tries to get embarrassing photos from this little surprise, she’ll find that it’s gonna be a lot harder than seeing if he’ll hit his head against something. Heh, thank you feline senses for faster-than-human reflexes.

“Okay, we’re close. Really close!” Marinette cheers. “Just a few more steps, Adrien. You can do it!”

If the blindfold wasn’t on, she’d have seen him roll his eyes.

“And… stop! Okay, take the blindfold off in one… two… three—”

Adrien takes the blindfold off and then jumps at the sound of party poppers. What on Earth— 

“Joyeux Anniversaire!”

Oh heck. Did he really forget his own birthday?! 

He takes a better look around the place they were in and… this is the park by Marinette’s childhood home! (Also the place where she celebrated her fourteenth birthday!)

He looks at the people and, oh! All his collège friends and lycée friends were here!

Nino’s DJ equipment was here, a special Tom & Sabine triple-tiered chocolate cake with green piping sat in the middle of the food table, even André’s ice cream cart was here!

“So,” Marinette asked, wrapping an arm around his waist, “Do you like it?” She asked, beaming up at him.

“Like it? LIKE IT?!” He laughed, swooping down to kiss her on the lips, “I love it!”

“Well, let’s go!” Marinette grinned, tugging him by the hand “You deserve the best frigging birthday party ever!”

It was indeed the best frigging birthday party ever.

(His girlfriend and special bug gifting him with a sweater and a promise ring of all things was the icing on the cake that made him tear up a little. He wore it proudly, and smugly, on his left hand’s ring finger, thereby declaring himself Marinette’s forever and always, his words not hers.)

**Author's Note:**

> twitter: [reflekdoll](http://twitter.com/reflekdoll)


End file.
